Archive for August 2017
1 August 2017
Steel workers at Rom Ltd strike for a pay rise
No pay rise for ten years! That's why 18 steel fabricators in Sheffield are on strike
1 August 2017
Bank of England fair pay strike
Unite members at the Bank of England are striking for three days from Tuesday 1st August for a pay rise
1 August 2017
Over 200 people came to the launch meeting of the #Justice4Daz campaign last week, which was set up after Coventry man Darren Cumberbatch died after "contact" with the police
1 August 2017
Victory against 'the biggest single NHS privatisation'
Plans to privatise "all cancer and end-of-life treatment for children and adults across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent" have been scrapped
3 August 2017
Labour MP attacks local student over anti-austerity art project
The Socialist Party condemns Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft for reporting a student to the police
3 August 2017
Three London strikes coordinate demos
Unite members at Barts NHS Trust, the Bank of England and BA cabin crew went on the march
8 August 2017
Rashan Charles death: End police racism and austerity
A video of the violent abuse of Rashan before his death has caused outrage
8 August 2017
Venezuela shows battle that would be faced by Corbyn government
The Tories and media are trying to conduct a scare campaign, rehearsing the shop-worn theme of 'chaos', linking Jeremy Corbyn to the current turmoil in Venezuela
9 August 2017
Bin workers - fifth week of strike action
Birmingham bin workers are angry that their council has forced them into more action
9 August 2017
Housing safety campaign kicks off in Coventry
Coventry Socialist Party held a public meeting in Hillfields about a new campaign for housing safety in Coventry on 1 August
9 August 2017
RMT condemns Welsh government rail privatisation
Rail union RMT has condemned plans by the Welsh Labour government to further privatise the Welsh rail network
9 August 2017
Coordinated action needed to break pay restraint
The misery of austerity for millions of workers is set to continue under the Tories. Chancellor Phillip Hammond has defended the 1% pay cap and claimed that public sector workers are overpaid
9 August 2017
40% of England's psychiatric wards are 'unsafe'
Fight for mental health funding: Nearly half of England's mental health units are out of date or unsafe according to healthcare regulator CQC. Thousands were "inadequate" or marked "requires improvement."
9 August 2017
End poverty pay for sleep-in care workers
Since the NHS began outsourcing care services to private companies and charities, wages and conditions for carers, support workers and healthcare assistants have been squeezed.
9 August 2017
Far-right thrown out of Newcastle
On 29 July Socialist Party members found out that remnants of the north east's divided far-right organisations were planning a demonstration in Newcastle city centre
9 August 2017
Campaign fights closure of Chatsworth rehab ward
35 concerned patients, ex-patients and staff attended a passionate public meeting called by the Socialist Party on 3 August to discuss plans to fight the closure of the Chatsworth rehabilitation ward at Mansfield Community Hospital
9 August 2017
Support for Socialist Party campaigns at biggest ever Leeds Pride
Socialist Party members joined an excellent Leeds Pride on 5 August. It was the biggest ever Pride parade in Leeds, with over 40,000 attending
9 August 2017
Colin John, a new member and retired trade union convenor, turns up regularly on our Saturday campaign stall in Swansea despite his mobility problems
9 August 2017
Barts strike: Keep up the pressure on Serco and the trust!
Talks are expected between NHS privateer Serco and striking Barts health workers as we go to press with the next strike set for 6am on 18 August
9 August 2017
Venezuela: Capitalist offensive sharpens after assembly elections
The escalating civil strife and economic crisis in Venezuela is being used by western governments and the establishment media as a stick to beat socialists with. However, as Marxists in Venezuela explain in the following article, the Maduro state bureaucracy is incapable of mobilising the working class to defeat the capitalist counterrevolution.
9 August 2017
Workers' struggles in Peru: eyewitness report
In Peru, the working class are fighting against sharp attacks on healthcare, education and working conditions. Doctors and teachers are striking nationwide.
9 August 2017
Global finance: Are those storm clouds ahead?
Is capitalism reproducing the same conditions that led to the 2007-08 financial crash? In two introductory articles, Ross Saunders looks at the rickety global financial order and Ian Groeber points to the recent Italian bank bailouts to show how the working class continues to pick up the tab for the capitalists' failures.
9 August 2017
How much reserves have councils got?
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has launched a new report on the level of reserves held by Labour-led councils
9 August 2017
Striking back against poverty pay
What's summer about? Sun, sea and... strike action! Fat cats and their Tory MP mates might be lounging on private beaches, but a strike wave is going to hit them
9 August 2017
Young, angry and fighting back
Join the Young Socialists!: Unemployment and underemployment in Hull, particularly for young people, is unacceptably high
9 August 2017
Crunchy guitar and poignant dialogue in alt-rock homage to south Wales miners
Combining music, sampling, spoken word and audio clips, Public Service Broadcasting's 'Every Valley' is a poignant, angry exploration of mining, pit closures and the legacy of industrial decline in south Wales
9 August 2017
Coventry: march following racist police killing
Over 200 came to the launch meeting of the #Justice4Daz campaign, set up after Coventry man Darren Cumberbatch died on 19 July following "contact" with the police. Hundreds also joined a march in Nuneaton on 29 July.
9 August 2017
Marx's Capital at 150: an unequalled analysis and critique of capitalism
The Daily Mail reacted with predictable hysteria when, in May 2017, John McDonnell stated: "You can't understand the capitalist system without reading Marx's Das Kapital."
11 August 2017
11 August 2017
The stress and hardship faced by nurses
NHS England currently has 89,000 staff vacancies, 40,000 of which are nursing posts. After 27 years as a nurse I can see a 'perfect storm' of political decisions that are forcing so many nurses away from
15 August 2017
US: neo-Nazi violence reawakens resistance
The vicious white nationalist violence in Charlottesville and across the US has acted as a collective wake-up call
15 August 2017
15 August 2017
'Ana Key MP' - Socialist artist responds to attacks
They push through the same cuts, take the same exorbitant wage (mine earned three times the median wage of her constituents!) and ignore the same problems, writes Ellen Kenyon Peers, Lewisham Socialist Party.
15 August 2017
Glasgow janitors win famous victory
Glasgow 'jannies', after an industrial action campaign lasting almost two years, have won an inspiring victory, writes Well done, the Glasgow school janitors! You won #Justice4Jannies!.
17 August 2017
Vital women's services under threat
Derby Women's Centre has been supporting women at the most vulnerable point in their lives
17 August 2017
Bin workers - fighting back wins!
Following magnificent action, Brum's bin workers have forced a management retreat.
21 August 2017
Bin workers say: Sack Suez, stop rubbish cuts!
Doncaster bin workers employed by contractor Suez, were set to begin a strike
21 August 2017
The role of the RMT in changing Labour
Rob Sewell, from the IMT group, recently attacked the Socialist Party on the question of trade union affiliations to Labour
22 August 2017
22 August 2017
Coordinate strikes to defeat the Tories
Normally a quiet month for the trade union movement, August has seen a whole number of industrial disputes raging on
23 August 2017
Three-week Argos distribution strike
Workers at four Argos distribution centres across the country are taking strike action
23 August 2017
Socialism 2017 takes place on 11 and 12 November. It is a weekend of discussion and debate with a choice of over 40 workshops and rallies
23 August 2017
West Midlands Young Socialists fight for free education on results day
West Midlands Young Socialists hit the streets on A-level results day on 17 August to further the fight for free education as thousands of young people found out which university they will go to in September
23 August 2017
Chatsworth ward campaigners demand answers
A highly charged and unusual meeting took place against the closure of Chatsworth rehabilitation unit at Mansfield Community Hospital
23 August 2017
Hull's first 'collective youth festival' was primarily aimed at developing the next generation of trade unionists to continue the fight against the bosses
23 August 2017
Hundreds evacuated after Labour council dismisses cracks in tower blocks
Fight for safe homes for all: Hundreds of tower block residents have been decanted by Southwark Council in south London over serious safety concerns the Labour administration initially dismissed
23 August 2017
Amazon tax halves as revenues soar - nationalise now!
Tech giant Amazon paid 50% less tax in the UK this year compared to last year despite the company's turnover rising by 54%
23 August 2017
RMT and the Labour Party affiliation debate
There was unanimous agreement that the victory of Corbyn raises the possibility of RMT once again affiliating to Labour, but the discussion also recognised the structures of Labour remain in the hands of the right
23 August 2017
Defiant Barts NHS workers fight to stop Serco sabotage
The latest Barts hospital workers' strike was a defiant message to employer Serco that its underhand tactics wouldn't succeed in defeating the low-paid workers on their 24th day of action
23 August 2017
BA poverty pay dispute enters new phase of action
On their 74th day of strike action, British Airways mixed-fleet cabin crew and their supporters, circled Heathrow Airport in an open-top bus
23 August 2017
McDonald's workers vote to walk out in historic strike
McDonald's workers balloted at Crayford, south east London, and Cambridge stores have voted by an incredible 95.7% in favour of strike action
23 August 2017
PCS: strikes to defend jobcentres
More and more jobcentres are taking action against DWP office closures
23 August 2017
Lewisham 1977: When socialists and workers defeated the far-right National Front
40 years ago almost to the day before Charlottesville, on 13 August 1977, the fascist National Front aimed to march through Lewisham
23 August 2017
Opposing the National Front in Grantham
Even with a national mobilisation, the National Front could only muster around 30 supporters
23 August 2017
With only a day's notice, around 100 people gathered outside the US embassy in London on 15 August to stand in solidarity with Charlottesville anti-fascist demonstrators
23 August 2017
The Single Market: a neoliberal tool of the bosses
Fight for a socialist Brexit: The single market compels privatisation of public services, prohibits nationalisation, and makes it easier for employers to exploit workers in numerous ways
23 August 2017
NHS campaign receives Labour Party backing
On 14 August members of Save North Tyneside NHS active in Labour, Unite the Union and the Socialist Party met with North Tyneside MP and shadow cabinet member Mary Glindon to discuss cuts
23 August 2017
Mutinies and strikes: when Bolshevism threatened British bosses
Review - 1919: Britain's year of revolution: Like countries across Europe, Britain was not immune to the impact of the 1917 Russian revolution
23 August 2017
Glasgow jannies win famous victory against council cutters
Glasgow janitors, after an industrial action campaign lasting almost two years, have won an inspiring victory
24 August 2017
Racist smears won't stop child sex abuse
The real answer to tackling abuse is not racial profiling. It starts with fully funding essential services
25 August 2017
"Talk about sourcing that will save the plant or we'll fight", say Bridgend Ford workers to the company
29 August 2017
Reject Starmer's Single Market u-turn
"The Labour Party's announcement that it wants the UK to remain within all the EU's structures ... is the best news to come out of British politics in a long time", said a FT editorial.
29 August 2017
Liveaboard boaters being forced off the waterways
The housing crisis has led to an increase in boats on the canals
30 August 2017
May's lies about foreign students exposed
One of Theresa May's racist immigration myths has been exposed
30 August 2017
Barts health workers' strike: pay up Serco!
At time of writing, talks are taking place in the boldly fought Barts NHS strike against greedy private company employer Serco
30 August 2017
For the second time in nine years BT is seeking to attack the pension benefits of its workers
30 August 2017
Bron Afon housing workers step up strike
Support workers at Bron Afon Community Housing in Cwmbran, south Wales, have begun their second five-day strike in as many weeks
30 August 2017
Unite takes legal action against Argos
Unite has announced legal action against Argos for employing strike-breakers
30 August 2017
Hong Kong: mass demonstration against repression
Uup to 140,000 people poured onto Hong Kong's streets in the biggest anti-government protest since the 2014 'umbrella movement'
30 August 2017
Chatsworth workers and patients fight to save ward
"We will not stop until we have ripped this decision apart!" Chatsworth ward in Mansfield is a vital facility for some of the most vulnerable members of our society - this is where we as staff members come in!
30 August 2017
Campaigners fight second Yorkshire Women's Aid closure in two years
'Women's Lives Matter' campaigners took to the streets of Doncaster to defend the last Women's Aid in south Yorkshire
30 August 2017
Community and artists campaign to save Todmorden College
The town of Todmorden has had a community college since the 1950s - now slated for closure
30 August 2017
Orgreave campaign calls Halloween rally
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign has called a 'Death of Justice Rally' to mark the one-year anniversary of the Tories'decision not to hold any inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave
30 August 2017
Should you be furious about 'furious cycling'?
Rather than allowing the press to whip up division between pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, we should be united in demanding urgent transport investment
30 August 2017
Catchy folk rock with a socialist edge
Music review: 'Another Day' stands in the best tradition of British radical folk music
30 August 2017
Landlord licensing under threat - fight back
Newham's private housing sector is notorious for illegal conversions, overcrowding, unsafe wiring, atrocious fire safety, damp, poor heating and infestation
30 August 2017
School spend is behind eastern Europe
UK education spending is behind many eastern European countries, according to EU figures
30 August 2017
Corbyn confirms £1bn for the arts
Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed his May pledge to inject £1 billion into the arts
30 August 2017
By implementing spending cuts on an unprecedented scale in Scotland, the SNP leadership has begun to be exposed
30 August 2017
"I have experienced first-hand the insecurity of zero-hour contracts, low pay and abuse by the management, to both me and my fellow workmates"
30 August 2017
China: debt crisis, state repression and the prospects for workers' struggle
The ideas of Trotsky's 'permanent revolution' are more applicable in China today in the struggle to transform what is a unique form of state-capitalist dictatorship
31 August 2017
How to help the struggle to change the Labour Party
Rob Sewell's second article in answer to our reply to him on the question of the RMT union's position on affiliation to the Labour Party is simply lamentable, from a Marxist standpoint, writes Peter Taaffe
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